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Madonna passed on "It's Passion" by The System?


frzndrwnwrld

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It's funny how often I find Madonna mentioned on Wikipedia when I'm not even looking for her! I was hoping someone had some input on this because I never heard about it.

David Frank was working on a session that evolved into a track called "It's Passion," which was to feature a pre-stardom Madonna on vocals. However, due to creative differences, Madonna bowed out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_System_(band)#Origins

Is this true? I wonder what the creative differences where. I think this definitely sounds like something Madonna would've done at that time. Maybe they just wanted her to be a background singer but she wanted lead vocals.

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It's not the same song. That was with Stephen Bray.

Together they started writing songs and recorded them under Gotham Records, in New York's rehearsal studio called the Music Building. The songs recorded included "Ain't No Big Deal", "Laugh to Keep from Crying", "Crimes of Passion" and "Stay".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Madonna#Background

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Yes it is. When they clashed over the song The System (only David Frank at the time) made Passion and Madonna/Bray Crimes of passion out of this working session. It's the same song with their own outputs on it so it sounds a bit different.

I don't know what happenned but in 1992 when Madonna made Dear Father with Andre Betts she did not know David Frank came up with the bassline of the track when Andre told her she put the song in her vault and never used it.

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Oooooooooh. Ok. Thanks for the info. I do know that Stephen Bray added that 90s production to Crimes of Passion for the Pre-Madonna album. I remember the liner notes saying that when he tried to remaster the vocals, the original music became distorted, so he had to change it. Would've loved to hear the original music. I guess it would have sounded like The System.

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Electronic Musician (April 1, 2000): An interview by Paul Myers with songwriter David Frank

“One day I got a call from Lou Bolognese, who owned a 24-track studio in Long Island. He wanted me to do a session as a favor, and he offered me some studio time in return. I thought I’d just do some demos and sample commercials with the time, but but Lou said, ‘Why don’t you do a song? You know, a dance song, a 12-inch. Just get a singer, you can do it!'”

Frank programmed a song in a few weeks, but he still needed a singer. Why not ask the girl upstairs? he thought. “The girl upstairs was Madonna,” Frank explains. “This was in 1981, before she had a record deal. We were in a pickup band together, and she was the singer. We rehearsed in the same building, called the Music Building, on 37th Street and 8th Avenue. I was actually paid to write with her. I made $30 for four hours of work,” he laughs.

Frank had only the title for the song, “Crimes of Passion.” He brought in the future mogul to write some words and a melody. Then fate intervened. “We were all set to do it. But the night before we were going to cut the song, Madonna called me and asked if Steve Bray, her drummer, could be in on the session as coproducer. “I love Steve, but I knew he would want to put guitars on the track. I had visualized it as a synth-only song, which was still a bit of a novelty at that time.”

The conflict meant that Madonna was out. “I called up Mic Murphy, a singer I knew,” Frank continues. “He wrote a new melody for the song and changed the words to “In Times of Passion.” We recorded and mixed all of it in one day. He took it to a friend of his, who cut an acetate, a 12-inch, and we got a record deal with Atlantic the next day.”

Notes by Bruce Baron:

Madonna and Bray obviously did their own version which appeared on "Pre Madonna."

Mic Murphy and David Frank went on to form the pop duo The System. They charted several dance hits including “Don’t Disturb This Groove”.

Mic Murphy is credited as a co-writer to the “Erotica” era unreleased Madonna song “Dear Father” along with Andre Betts. Mic Murphy also played with Bray and Madonna during her early demo days.

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I love "Dear Father." But it always sounded more like a Shep track than an Andre Betts track to me. I would have loved to have heard the final version to see if it ended up more like the other Betts tracks.

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Electronic Musician (April 1, 2000): An interview by Paul Myers with songwriter David Frank

“One day I got a call from Lou Bolognese, who owned a 24-track studio in Long Island. He wanted me to do a session as a favor, and he offered me some studio time in return. I thought I’d just do some demos and sample commercials with the time, but but Lou said, ‘Why don’t you do a song? You know, a dance song, a 12-inch. Just get a singer, you can do it!'”

Frank programmed a song in a few weeks, but he still needed a singer. Why not ask the girl upstairs? he thought. “The girl upstairs was Madonna,” Frank explains. “This was in 1981, before she had a record deal. We were in a pickup band together, and she was the singer. We rehearsed in the same building, called the Music Building, on 37th Street and 8th Avenue. I was actually paid to write with her. I made $30 for four hours of work,” he laughs.

Frank had only the title for the song, “Crimes of Passion.” He brought in the future mogul to write some words and a melody. Then fate intervened. “We were all set to do it. But the night before we were going to cut the song, Madonna called me and asked if Steve Bray, her drummer, could be in on the session as coproducer. “I love Steve, but I knew he would want to put guitars on the track. I had visualized it as a synth-only song, which was still a bit of a novelty at that time.”

The conflict meant that Madonna was out. “I called up Mic Murphy, a singer I knew,” Frank continues. “He wrote a new melody for the song and changed the words to “In Times of Passion.” We recorded and mixed all of it in one day. He took it to a friend of his, who cut an acetate, a 12-inch, and we got a record deal with Atlantic the next day.”

Notes by Bruce Baron:

Madonna and Bray obviously did their own version which appeared on "Pre Madonna."

Mic Murphy and David Frank went on to form the pop duo The System. They charted several dance hits including “Don’t Disturb This Groove”.

Mic Murphy is credited as a co-writer to the “Erotica” era unreleased Madonna song “Dear Father” along with Andre Betts. Mic Murphy also played with Bray and Madonna during her early demo days.

Very cool! Thanks a lot for posting that.

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